--- title: "Hummingbird (2013): what Google changed and what it means now" url: https://seomadman.com/updates/hummingbird-2013 section: updates language: en published: 2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z modified: 2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z author: Adam Hafez topics: ["Content strategy"] --- # Hummingbird (2013): what Google changed and what it means now ## The short answer Hummingbird was a rebuild of Google's overall ranking algorithm, made in August 2013 and revealed at Google's 15th birthday event on 26 September 2013. Google said it paid more attention to the meaning of the whole query, not single words. Google's ranking systems guide now lists it as a retired system, after which Google's ranking kept evolving. ## Key takeaways - Google revealed Hummingbird at a press event on 26 September 2013, a month after it went live. - Google's ranking systems guide dates it to August 2013 and gives no exact day. - Google told the press it was a new engine that still used parts such as PageRank, Panda and Penguin. - Google said there was nothing new SEOs or publishers needed to do for it. - Google now lists Hummingbird as a retired system; its ranking systems kept evolving after it. ## What Google changed Google revealed Hummingbird on 26 September 2013 at a press event marking its 15th birthday. It was not a filter like Panda or Penguin but a new overall search algorithm. Google told [Search Engine Land](https://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816) that Hummingbird paid more attention to each word in a query, so that the whole query, its meaning, is taken into account rather than particular words. "Conversational search" was the main example Google gave: longer, spoken questions where matching meaning matters more than matching keywords. Google said the new engine was built from existing and new parts, and still used PageRank, Panda and Penguin. ## When it rolled out Google gave no exact date. At the event it said it had started using Hummingbird "about a month ago." Google's [ranking systems guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide) now dates it to August 2013. This page uses 1 August 2013 to stand for that month; the exact day is not known. Google's own [Inside Search post](https://search.googleblog.com/2013/09/fifteen-years-onand-were-just-getting.html) from the event covered new Knowledge Graph and mobile features but did not mention Hummingbird. The algorithm was confirmed in statements to the press, which is why this page cites Search Engine Land as the record. The name is Google's, chosen, it said, for being "precise and fast." ## What is known about its impact Google did not publish an impact figure in its own posts. Search Engine Land noted that Hummingbird had been live for about a month before the announcement without any wave of complaints about worse results. Treat any winner or loser percentage attributed to Hummingbird as a third-party estimate. ## What site owners should do At launch, Google said there was nothing new or different SEOs or publishers needed to worry about, and that its guidance stayed the same: original, high-quality content. Hummingbird is now listed under retired systems in Google's ranking systems guide, "a major improvement to our overall ranking systems made in August 2013." RankBrain and BERT, which came later, are listed as current systems. The advice that follows from Google's current [helpful content guidance](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content): - Write for the question a person is asking, not for a list of exact keywords. - Answer the whole query, including the follow-up a reader is likely to have. - Use natural language; Google's systems match meaning, so exact-match phrasing is not required. ## How to check whether it affected you This is historical: Search Console keeps 16 months of data, so it cannot show 2013. Because Google gave only a month, there is no clean before and after window. If you kept analytics from then, compare July 2013 with September 2013 and look for shifts on long, question-style queries. The [Google Algorithm Updates timeline](/updates) lists the other updates of 2013. ## Related updates - The [Payday loan update](/updates/payday-loan-update-2013) was the confirmed change before it in 2013. - [RankBrain](/updates/rankbrain-2015) was the next ranking system Google revealed, in 2015. - The [BERT update](/updates/bert-2019) extended Google's language understanding in 2019. ## Frequently asked questions ### When did Hummingbird launch? Google's ranking systems guide says August 2013. Google gave no exact day; at its 26 September 2013 event it said Hummingbird had been in use for about a month. This page uses 1 August 2013 to stand for that month. ### Was Hummingbird a penalty? No. Google described it as a new search algorithm rather than a filter or penalty. It told Search Engine Land the new engine still used existing parts such as PageRank, Panda and Penguin. ### Why is it called Hummingbird? Google named it. Search Engine Land reported that Google said the name came from being precise and fast. ### Does Hummingbird still exist? Not as a named system. Google's ranking systems guide lists it under retired systems: a major improvement made in August 2013, after which its ranking systems continued to evolve. ## Sources 1. [FAQ: All About The New Google Hummingbird Algorithm](https://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816) - Search Engine Land (primary) 2. [Google Reveals Hummingbird Search Algorithm, Other Changes At 15th Birthday Event](https://searchengineland.com/google-birthday-event-172791) - Search Engine Land 3. [Fifteen years on, and we're just getting started](https://search.googleblog.com/2013/09/fifteen-years-onand-were-just-getting.html) - Google Inside Search blog (primary) 4. [A guide to Google Search ranking systems](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide) - Google Search Central (primary) 5. [Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content) - Google Search Central (primary)